homeless shelter in querns highway underpass

One of those options was the New Horizons Transitional Shelter (or the Grayson shelter), which the city has specifically marketed to residents at the encampments near the Berkeley Marina in advance of the sweeps that began this week. It also prioritizes encampment sweeps like the one in Berkeley on Monday.Ĭaltrans said everyone at the encampment was offered housing and 40 people at the encampment were moved into hotel rooms, dating back to June 1. The new California Comeback plan is supposed to add another $12 billion toward efforts to end homelessness throughout the state, with $2 billion in flexible funding for local jurisdictions. Caltrans workers continued sweeping the encampment throughout Tuesday, and a sweep for “upstairs” is planned to begin Aug. Because the operation was Caltrans and state-led, city spokesman Matthai Chakko said Berkeley “stayed on the periphery.”īerkeley mental health services and social workers were not on the scene to support residents when the sweep began, but law enforcement from the California Highway Patrol and Berkeley police were in the area throughout the day.

Some media members were informed when he arrived around 10 a.m. Newsom’s visit was mostly a surprise Berkeley officials said they found out about it on Monday morning. Laforge is among a handful of residents who do not have confirmed hotel rooms, organized by Alameda County and funded by the state and county through Project Roomkey, as well as the California Comeback Plan to address homelessness and its mental health impacts, which Newsom was promoting as he was photographed picking up trash at the encampment on Monday. “I’ve been looking for work, and I finally got the opportunity, so it was just horrible timing,” said Laforge, who is originally from Texas and Louisiana and has been homeless in the Bay Area for about five years. Joshua Laforge had to move his belongings with one cart, about half a mile away from the I-80 underpass encampment. He ultimately had to ask his employer for a grace period while he gathered all his items and moved with her to a dead-end on Allston Way and Fourth Street, where he is currently residing. His girlfriend was there when Caltrans workers arrived and told her she had 10 minutes to clear her possessions. He posted a sign on his tent asking Caltrans to wait until he was done, and that he would come back and move his items. It never came, and it was his first day of a new job on Monday when the sweep began. Joshua “Lostboy” Laforge knew the sweep was coming, but he was waiting for confirmation of alternate housing before leaving the area. They posted signs at the camp on July 30 notifying residents of the sweep (a little over a week of notice) and arrived at 8 a.m. Activists with “Where Do We Go Berkeley” have long maintained and fought for both camps, which have existed well over two years during a worsening, regional housing crisis in the Bay Area.ĭue to a class action settlement that began paying out Berkeley and Oakland residents last week, Caltrans is required to give at least 48-hour notice for an impending sweep. The camp, known as “downstairs” to the encampment on University Avenue at Frontage Road, is located underneath the Interstate 80 underpass, accessed by stairs on the pedestrian bridge. But while officials claim residents were offered alternate housing, several of them are in states of limbo as they search for another place to live. Gavin Newsom personally accompanied Caltrans officials to clear out a longstanding homeless encampment near the Berkeley Marina Monday morning.

Yes, I want to support your work! A residence left behind at the encampment on I-80 off University Avenue following an initial Caltrans sweep on Aug.

Homeless shelter in querns highway underpass